If you’re a landlord, then you’ve probably spent a fair amount of time developing your rental agreements to ensure that your interests are protected as fully as possible while still rendering your properties marketable. It can be frustrating, then, when your tenants breach those lease agreements. If left unaddressed, these situations can leave you facing additional costs and damage to your business reputation and future profitability. Therefore, when a rental agreement is breached, you have to take the matter seriously.
But figuring out your next steps after a rental agreement breach can be tricky. You might be tempted to show up at the tenant’s residence and demand remedial action, but that may lead to more trouble than it’s worth. While you’ll certainly want to seek compliance with the rental agreement as quickly as possible, you also need to lay a proper framework for legal action so that you’re well positioned if your case gets to that point.
There are several ways to approach a rental agreement breach, so you need to find the one that works best for you. However, here are some key steps that you should consider taking to make an appropriate record and to protect your interests as fully as possible:
- Review the lease: Before taking a lot of action to try to remedy the issue, review the rental contract to ensure your memory of its terms is accurate. This will allow you to move forward with confidence and point out the specific provisions that have been violated.
- Send a written letter: This document should be as specific as possible, detailing the problematic behavior and how it violates the lease agreement. This puts the tenant on notice of what’s wrong and what they need to do to fix it. Your letter should clearly demand corrective action and set a deadline. When sending this letter, it’s a good idea to use certified mail so that you can prove that the tenant actually received the notice.
- Try informal resolution: You don’t have to jump to legal action right away to try to resolve your landlord-tenant dispute. Simply by talking to the tenant, you may find that they’re willing to work with you to correct the issue and even set up a plan to pay rent that’s in arrears, if that’s the issue. You can also consider alternative dispute resolution methodologies, like mediation, to try to find resolution without the need for full blown litigation.
- Be prepared to take legal action: Although you may want to avoid formal legal action, you have to act as if the situation is headed in that direction. And if you do get to the point that you need to file a claim against your tenant, it’s imperative that you understand the law and how it applies to your set of circumstances. If you’re filing to secure compensation for damage caused to your property, for example, then you should take pictures of the damage and gather witness statements as to causation. Be as prepared as possible to maximize your chances of securing a favorable outcome.
You have a lot on the line when a lease agreement is breached. While it can cost you money, it also causes a hit to you pride by leaving you feeling like your tenant has the impression that they can walk all over you. Fortunately, though, you can bring all that ot a stop. You simply have to know what steps you can take to protect yourself. If you’d like to learn more about what you can do, then now is the time to speak with your attorney.